To the average
Besides that, the structure, use and location of a landing pages is massively different from a homepage. To set up a well-oiled marketing machine a major moving part will be having a homepage and multiple well-placed landing pages.
When building your website there are a three main technology platforms. You can use Wix, WordPress, or Squarespace and each gives you options for both homepages and landing pages.
What are differences between a landing page and a homepage?
A homepage is located permanently on the front page of your website and can be considered the face of your brand.
A landing page contains information focused on lead capture created and used for a specific campaign or a call-to-action.
These descriptions show you the core principles behind these two page types, and by understanding these descriptions, you will better understand all the other differences that come along with them. To make these differences clear, I’ve created a table of features.
| Feature | Landing Page | Home Page |
| Location | CRM/Website/Page tool | Website |
| Purpose | Campaign specific Lead capture | Introduction to a company’s brand |
| Duration of publication | Duration of campaign | Permanent |
| Traffic Sources | Paid, Owned and Earned media | Paid, and Owned and Earned digital media |
| Calls-to-Action | Singular | Multiple |
| URL | Prospect activity can be tracked with a UTM code | Typically the Company root domain, e.g. www.company.com |
| Production lifecycle | Very short (1-2 hours) | A few days |
| Navigation | Remove site menus to deter The Call to Action (form, download, etc) should be the only thing on the page. | At least one home menu and multiple CTA’s including social buttons, other site pages and links to on-site blogs. |
| Marketing funnel focus | All: ToFu, MoFu, BoFu | Should include different parts of the marketing funnel with particular focus on ToFu and BoFu |
What makes a good landing page?
Only have one CTA
The sole purpose of a Landing Page is to convert visitors to subscribers.
Each Landing Page should have only one offer, for one marketing campaign. The only task a visitor should be able to do is convert into a subscriber through a single, well-placed and compelling CTA.
Don’t have loads of distracting buttons or menus
Best practice is to create a landing page with only one focus, that one focus should be the CTA which leads to a goal (usually to obtain contact details).
So, as far as possible, the CTA should be the only way to navigate away from a landing page. Remove menu bars and other links navigating to pages on your website. You can reserve links to other offers and pages in the thank you page once your prospect has converted.
Make the offer clear in the first block
Prospects typically spend no more than a few seconds reading content before deciding to click away or stay to learn more. So make sure that the offer is concisely described and the value is clear in the first block of the landing page.
The second and third block (if you have them) can be used for expanding on the finer details of your offer or adding reviews and testimonials of people who have already enjoyed your offer.
Make it easy to read with large font and white space
Think of the content of a landing page as an advertisement – you are selling the conversion. You need the layout and the font to capture your audience so the text needs to be easy to read. A font above 12 is advisable.
Use white space in the right places.
keep your text concise and don’t crowd the landing page with too much information or complex imagery. It can be distracting and make it harder for your prospects to focus on your CTA’s.
Don’t underestimate the value of white space. It makes it easier for your prospects to focus on what they should be doing and the right amount keeps your landing pages looking clean and modern.
Use a UTM code to track prospect activity
The great thing about landing pages is that you can create them quite quickly so you can give them each a UTM code (a code at the end of your URL) which allows you to track any visitors to that page.
So you may have one offer but different sources for it, for example one source being email and the other being a Facebook ad. You can quite simply clone a landing page and assign a unique UTM code to each so you can see how prospects are reaching your offers.
That’s important if you want a good return on your investment with a strong Facebook ad CTR, particularly as cloning a landing page can takes only minutes.
What makes a good homepage?
Easy navigation for all stages of the marketing funnel
Consider why a prospect may want to visit your homepage.
It’s likely because they have heard about your brand and what you have to offer and are looking to find out more about your company.
So make it clear from the in the first block of the website, what your company does, and then mention your most popular offers throughout the homepage. This assures your visitor that whatever they are looking for is indeed on your website and they are more likely to stay on your website to find out more.
Top of the funnel CTA in the first block
Prospects that visit your homepage/website for the first time are typically at the top of your marketing funnel. So placing a CTA in the most important block for a bottom of the funnel offer isn’t going to get many click throughs.
So pick a smaller Top of the Funnel package that you can offer for prospects who would like to give your services a test run.
Clear branding
Prospects visiting your website homepage is a clear sign that they know about you, so it’s important that you maintain that and start to grow that relationship. One important thing to do is to familiarise your prospect with your branding so that when they come across you again later (Read more about this in our buyer’s journey blog) they will recognise you and pay more attention.
